Wednesday, March 31, 2010

and now for the real challenge

wall 2 b3The solid blue wall just had to go!…

 

 

 

 

You think this looks cluttered and chaotic! Wait ’till you see the mess created by moving the furniture to get to that wall…

chaos  4 chaos 1 wall 3 b1

                                                                   can you believe my son moved that bookshelf
WITHOUT taking
all the books off first!

Between coats on the wall I started on my desk shelves.

before                                                                 after

wall 2 b1

wall 2 a

before

wall 2 b2  wall 2 a2 - Copy                       after

 

 

 

 

all together now…

from this

wall 2 b3 - Copy

              to this           wall 2 a2

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

furniture next

Next I turned my attention to the furniture. This was a little bit daunting so I started with the smallest piece on this wall.wall 1 b

    this one wall 1 b3 - Copywall 1 b1

    which is actually in two bits,
a cheap-as-chips CD rack from
the $2 shop which was never
much use because I had the
printer stuck in front of it
and
a 30 year old bedside table
that I got when I first moved
out of home.

 

wall 1 a1I painted everything white, stuck a bit of beading on the edges (painted pink), made a fancy bit for the top from my scrapbooking supplies and moved the ugly printer…this is the result…

Next I replaced the manly blue, heavy drapes with some light and filmy ones we had hanging in the house 25 years ago (hoarding DOES pay of!). I wanted a beaded fringe for the pelmet but at $60+ per metre (for 5 metres!) that was right out so I made one for under $50  -yes I know it wasn’t part of the spend-no-money plan but just look at it!fringe 2 so the result is

wall 1 after 1

Beforewall 1 b                                                  afterta da 1 - Copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Becca pointed out, and rightly so, that I forgot to mention the glass knobs on my drawers…lookwall 1 knobsaren’t they g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s! I got them whilst shopping with Renae & Becca at our wonderful local vintage shop after having eyed them off for about 6 months and saving for about as long. They’re all different – I was going for the eclectic look. The shop keeper didn’t think it would work but Renae, Becca and I agreed that it would and it DID. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from these little pink glass beauties.

Monday, March 29, 2010

shabby chic: before & after

I know I haven’t been a very faithful blogger but I have a bit of time on my hands right now so I thought I’d amuse myself with some before and after posts showing my journey towards a shabby chic craft-room.

Hope you get some pleasure out of them too. I am sooooooooooo happy with my little craft room, I find myself stopping as I pass by just to admire my handiwork.

My aim was to be as cost effective box & basketas possible, so I started by gathering some boxes and baskets
that were doing various jobs all over the house and then raiding the storage cupboard for all our old paintpaint 3









I used up all our old white paint!

paint 2

my Aussie Farmers Direct boxes came in handy.
box b1 (2) box b1 box a1my boring old brown baskets basket b1 became something
new and not-so-boring

basket a1 I did lash out and buy a few baskets too when my good friends Renae & Becca pointed them out on sale (how could I resist!)

see you tomorrow for some more before & after snaps.

Followers